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Prevalence of intra‐abdominal hypertension in horses with colic
Author(s) -
Foth Patrick W.,
Scott Victoria H.,
Mudge Margaret C.,
Hurcombe Samuel D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of veterinary emergency and critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.886
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1476-4431
pISSN - 1479-3261
DOI - 10.1111/vec.13006
Subject(s) - medicine , horse , abdominal fluid , surgery , gastroenterology , paleontology , biology
Objective To determine an abdominal pressure cutoff value for intra‐abdominal hypertension (IAH) in the horse and characterize IAH in horses with acute colic. Design Prospective clinical cohort. Setting University teaching hospital. Animals Nine healthy adult horses and 56 horses with acute colic. Interventions Ventral intra‐abdominal pressure (IAP) was measured in triplicate at end expiration and averaged. Each colic case was classified as medical or surgical and large intestine (LI) or small intestine (SI). Management and final outcome (alive, euthanized, or died) were recorded. IAH was defined as ≥32 mm Hg (mean + 2 SDs of ventral IAP in control horses). Proportions of horses with and without IAH for different lesions were expressed as fractions and percentages. Differences in IAP between groups were determined using ANOVA with post‐testing or t ‐tests. Odds ratio for management strategy (ie, need for medical or surgical) in horses with IAH was performed using Fisher's exact test. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Measurements and Main Results IAP was higher in horses with colic compared to controls ( P = 0.025). Over 18 months, 30.4% of horses with colic had IAH (n = 10 LI lesions, n = 7 SI lesions). Horses with LI medical lesions had the highest IAP of all lesions (mean 36.5 mm Hg). IAH horses with medical lesions were 15 times more likely to survive than IAH horses requiring surgery ( P = 0.03). Conclusions Acute colic in horses is associated with an increased ventral IAP compared with healthy controls. IAH does exist in horses with colic, notably LI medical lesions, and is associated with nonsurvival in horses that require surgery.